Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.

June 1942. "This husky member of a construction crew building a 33,000 volt power line into Fort Knox is performing an important war service. Thousands of soldiers are in training there, and the new line from a hydroelectric plant at Louisville is needed to supplement the existing power supply." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer, Office of War Information. View full size.

"Plum Point." Circa 1928. Thinking of Friday's historic vote in the House of Representatives, I was all set to post a photo of Woodrow Wilson addressing Congress. Then I found this. National Photo Co. glass negative. View full size.

Dallas, October 1913. "Messenger boy in the heart of the Reservation (Red Light). Prostitutes run back and forth. Business beginning at mid-day. I saw messenger boys and delivery boys for drug stores from 15 years upward. Some still younger told me that they go there. This was in spite of a strong agitation being waged to close up the resorts." Photo and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.